Justin Timberlake’s ‘20-20 Experience 2 of 2’: album review

Justin Timberlake’s ‘20-20 Experience 2 of 2’: album review

Justin Timberlake’s ‘20-20 Experience 2 of 2’: album review, Justin Timberlake, pictured performing during the Rock in Rio music festival in Brazil last week, is back with another album full of new songs - but it doesn’t mirror the quality of the first ‘20/20 Experience.’

How often do we get to delight in the surprise of a “Godfather Part II”? Far more frequently we step in the poo of “Porkies II: The Next Day.”

Justin Timberlake might have taken this into consideration when putting together “The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2.” It’s the much-talked-about chaser to his commercial and critical smash from six months ago, “The 20/20 Experience.” Timberlake recorded the songs for both at the same time, but held these back in favor of the anointed ones.

The disc won’t find an official release until this Tuesday, but it’s being streaming live now via iTunes.If anything, the result shows Timberlake to be a wise editor. Though the eleven “new” tracks have their merits and charms, in nearly every case they fall in the shadow of the initial twelve.

On the positive side, they hang well together. There’s a certain strategy at work here.On the disc released earlier this year, Timberlake adopted a suit-and-tie suave, playing a modern R&B answer to Fred Astaire. This time, he strips that off to work the flesh below. In the opening track, “Gimme What I Don’t Know I Want,” Timberlake urges his lover to “get closer to your animal inside,” while by the next song, “True Blood,” he’s down to smelling her bodily fluids, and ogling “evil in a dress.”

Too bad the music isn’t quite as hot and bothered as its lyric. The animal side of “Gimmie” turns out to be less primal than campy. The goofy trumpeting of an elephant announces his erotic triumphs. “True Blood” has the silliness, and excess, of the video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” complete with regular producer Timbaland mimicking Vincent Prince’s corny cackle.

JT’s long-time fetish for MJ couldn’t be better documented, or more openly acknowledged. But, in at least one case, it takes an overly-literal turn. The pre-release single, “Take Back The Night,” feeds off Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” as vamprically as Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” does Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up.”

Throughout the disc, Timbaland’s trademark call-and-response hooks can feel rote. And that hurts, given the number of times they’re employed. As on the first disc, nearly all the songs go long. Most top the 7 minute mark. Some earn their extended groove, others overstay their welcome, wearing out the beats too soon, or larding them with over-ornate arrangements.

JT breaks things up by allowing more pop and rock elements this time. They’re heard in the guitars of “Only When I Walk Away,” “Drink You Away,” or the 11 (!) minute “Not A Bad Thing.” But the latter two come too close to something N Sync might cut on a reunion CD we hope never happens.

The album isn’t without its highlights. “Murder” - another duet with JT’s partner-in-bromance, Jay-Z - benefits from its hip-hop hardness. It also has a rhyme from Jay, about Yoko Ono’s power over John Lennon, that’s as hilarious as it is filthy. Better, “You Got It On” has the soul and grace of JT’s best songs of all time. Here, his vocals have the balletic grace that made the earlier disc one of this year’s finest.

Rest assured, the remainder of the CD squeezes out just enough juice to get by. But there’s no getting around the fact that, compared to JT’s first serving, this smells like sloppy seconds.